Breadcrumb Trail Links

Editorial: CIA torture revelations are appalling

Author of the article:

Montreal Gazette Editorial Board

Publishing date:

December 11, 2014 • 2 minute read

Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (C), D-California, talks to reporters about the report on CIA interrogations, December 2014.Photo by JIM WATSON/ AFP/Getty ImagesThe litany of inhumanity, abuse and lies exposed in a damning report by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reveals that the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of torture against suspected terrorists was far more egregious and extensive than previously known. Waterboarding was only the tip of the iceberg. And according to the report, the tactic was employed far more widely, harshly, frequently and against more prisoners in more secret prisons than the CIA previously admitted. But brutal tactics such as “rectal hydration,” lengthy periods of sleep and light deprivation, sensory overload with loud music, nudity, beatings, mock executions, ice baths, stress positions and threats against family members were also used by the CIA on 119 prisoners, as part of an “enhanced interrogation program” at clandestine prisons it operated around the world between Sept. 17, 2001 and January 2009, when U.S. President Barack Obama signed the program out of existence shortly after taking office.

Distroscale

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

The length to which CIA officials went to mislead everyone, from the White House to Congress to the CIA’s Inspector General, about the true nature of the program is also deeply disturbing. Some apologists for torture portray it as a necessary evil, to prevent violent acts against innocents. Butthe Senate committee concluded that it produced not a shred of usable intelligence that could not have been, or hadn’t already been, extracted through less coercive means. This is in spite of the trumped up claims of senior CIA operatives and Hollywood mythology. It is chilling that the spy agency ofa country that presents itself as a model of freedom, democracy and justice broke every conceivable U.S. and international law prohibiting torture. The CIA essentially operated outside the law with official sanction and legal approval obtained on faulty or deceptive grounds.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

If there is a silver lining to this dark chapter of U.S. history, it’s that the Senate committee report, or at least an extensive 528-page executive summary of the 6,700-page full version, was made public at all. Although the investigation took six years and faced many hurdles, the fact the findings were released shows that democratic checks, balances and transparency — however flawed — still function in the United States.

But other than opening the eyes of the public, the fallout from the exercise is expected to be minimal.

Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat who chairs the Senate committee, steered clear of advocating prosecution of the perpetrators. Obama seems eager to put the episode behind him. He walks a fine line between condemning the torture and avoiding promises that anyone will be held accountable. Some Republicans, meanwhile, maintain that the program thwarted attacks.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

But that seems unlikely — which is a shame, both for the U.S. and the world. Prosecution would be one way for the U.S. to show that it has learned from its horrendous mistakes and is serious about preventing a recurrence.

And as it remains locked in battle against ideologically repugnant enemies, it would be an important way for the U.S. to reclaim its lost moral authority and reaffirm that its cherished values are not just hollow rhetoric.View on Montreal Gazette

We apologize, but this list has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser.